


14

by leovaldez



Series: the romans be vibin [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fake Excerpts, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV First Person, Talking, The Roman Prequels, The Roman Trio, oh god please bear with me i'm trying to figure it out too and i also dont like first person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26303845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leovaldez/pseuds/leovaldez
Summary: Zipping up my jacket, acting casual, I asked, “What’s a birthday?”aka the roman trio are trapped on some quest and jason is a little confused about a concept
Relationships: Jason Grace & Octavian & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Jason Grace & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Series: the romans be vibin [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810354
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	14

**Author's Note:**

> t'was posted on tumblr originally but i think it'll fit here too 😌 I'm not a fan of first person, but writing it has been kind of... fun? idk anyway, they're on some quest. 
> 
> 🤔 if you're following [the fake roman prequel series I set up](https://bunkernine.tumblr.com/post/626278769749000192/book-1-the-son-of-lightning-jason-didnt-have-a) (don't worry I only did one lmao), based on them being 13, it's like, book 2. I'm not sure when I'll hit a point where I can go darker 😒 but like... it's in my head. so just some silly kid rivalries

Giving up, we sat alone in the box, muscles aching and breathing heavily. Reyna flipped on a switch at the rim of Diana’s lantern, and the candle flickered to a cool blue flame that lit up the room. Stuck inside, now windows or door and waiting for the god to come back “when he was ready”, we didn’t have much to do but eat the rest of our rations and wait.

Listening to the sounds of our breathing and chewing, my ears strained to hear something else, but there was only silence. That was scary. In the wild, silence wasn’t natural. Being trapped in some box by a flighty sea god wasn’t natural either. We might’ve been submerged deep underwater by now- and when we’re let out, we’ll have to swim with the fishes. Something about that was horrifying as well- my chewing stopped. 

I wasn’t the biggest fan of water.

Octavian sat across from me, watching the edges of the box where the walls met. He was always calculating something. It was hard to tell where he lied. Reyna, meanwhile, ate her sandwich, nose scrunching up as she stared at the candle. She still had twigs in her hair from earlier’s fall.

I moved closer next to her, passing a canteen of water. “What’re you thinking about?”

Reyna swallowed. “It’s my birthday.”

“Your… birthday?”

Reyna licked her lips, staring at the candlelight. “Yeah. My sister would sing a song, but I don’t know where she is right now.”

“Oh,” I faltered. “That sucks.”

Reyna looked at me. She then shrugged, and wrapped her arms around her knees. “Yeah. It’s okay though.” 

“On _my_ birthday,” Octavian announced, still scanning the ceiling. “We would go through the prophecies and see what good luck would come for the next year. This is, of course, after the _banquet_.”

“Of course, you would have a banquet,” I muttered. This was of no surprise to me, but it was still very confusing on one very big part. Zipping up my jacket, acting casual, I asked, “What’s a birthday?”

Neither of them answered. Face feeling hot with embarrassment, I looked up to find two faces, Reyna’s filled with some sort of mix of confusion and pity, and Octavian with a look of interest and unfettered curiosity. Neither looks I enjoyed and bit my tongue to keep from saying anything nasty back.

“It’s, er,” Reyna cleared her throat and then glanced at Octavian. _Help me with the wolf weirdo_ , she must’ve been thinking. My teeth bit down harder. 

Octavian was straight to the point. “It’s the day you’re born,” he cocked his head. “I’m in November and Reyna’s is-,” he waved his hand dismissively with a side-eye, “ _today_.” His tone flipped from his calmer voice to something teasing, but there was bitterness laced through his words: “Did none of the animals in the magical forest celebrate little Jasie-wasie’s birthday? Is he sad about that today?”

A growl slipped from my lips, but Reyna’s hand clamped on my shoulder before I can do anything. “You do this on purpose,” She hissed at Octavian, and then hesitantly smiled at me. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember the breathing exercises the Vestals showed me. Calmer, I opened my eyes and Reyna nodded. “Not everyone celebrates their birthday. I only remembered because meeting Diana’s hunters reminded me of my sister. I actually don’t like my birthday.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Everyone has a birthday, Lightning Boy.”

I fumed. “Stop calling me that or I’ll-”

“Or _what?”_ Octavian yanked up his sleeve, where a red mark marred his pale skin. “You’ll _bite_ me again? Reyna, keep your kid on a-”

“Is _now_ the time?” Reyna exasperatedly groaned. She pointed at Octavian. “You’re doing this on purpose. Can you stop bothering him for three minutes? Would that really hurt you? Honestly? _Would it?_ ” 

Octavian sucked his teeth, irritated. “Whatever.” He pulled out his prophecy scrolls and pulled the lantern closer to his side of the room. Reyna waited until Octavian was muttering to himself again, and then turned back to me. 

I opened my mouth, but she gave me a look. “Don’t even start,” Reyna scowled. “You’re worse than him. Octavian might not know when to stop, but you have no filter at all.” She sighed and fell back onto the floor. “Ugh.”

“ _Ugh_ ,” I echoing, falling back with her. The ground was cool underneath us, solid and firm like cement. It was also quiet, lacking the soundwaves I normally heard whispering through the world. It as merely a still floor, a brick of nothing. It was less comforting and more ominous to be faced with silence. 

Reyna watched my face carefully and then laughed to herself. She looked up to the ceiling, the crackle of the small candle and Octavian’s hushed cursing bouncing in my ears. I was getting better at handling airwaves, and if I concentrated enough, the noise can be pushed away to nothing.

But I didn’t want that. Silence meant danger, a moment of tension, and the flexing of muscles under fur. I raised Octavian’s volume a little to better fill the room, and if Reyna noticed, she didn’t say anything. Noise was communicating, it was knowing someone was there. 

But… wolves weren’t very social creatures the way humans were. I shifted from my lying position, going from being on my side to my back. From what I learned about Octavian and Reyna this past year, they both had siblings. Octavian was the eight child, and I always pictured him in some proper home, with a proper family, with proper Roman parents. Reyna had an older sister, and while I know that something happened when they were kids, those two always had each other’s back. 

A confusing and steady concoction of resentment and bitterness began to boil within me. I was supposed to be apart of a pack, and yet I had no one now. Lupa refuses to see me, and the Vestals have their secrets. Octavian and Reyna haven’t clicked, and the First Cohort felt foreign. My mind went to Gwen and Dakota in the fifth cohort, them with their easy smiles and carefree attitudes. It… it wasn’t fair. 

“Jason,” Reyna’s voice felt like ice. “You’re snarling.”

I couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not. “And?”

“You can’t seriously take Octavian’s words to heart,” Reyna murmured. She sat up. “A birthday isn’t a big deal.”

I wasn’t thinking about that, but there wasn’t any reason to correct her. Sighing, I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my palms. “I don’t know my birthday.”

“That’s okay,” Reyna said. “You can share my birthday. Next year, we’ll celebrate _our_ birthdays.”

“I don’t think it works like that. I _should_ know my birthday. It’s mine.”

“Does it matter, Jason?”

I thought about it. Then, slowly- “No. It doesn’t.”

Reyna looked down at me and smiled again. “Okay. Good. Now we are birthday twins.” She held out her right forearm, SPQR tattoo facing up, and I sat up, grabbed her arm and pulled inward, our shoulders knocking, and slapping each other’s tattoos, Reyna’s one bar contrasting with my nine. 

“Birthday twins,” I murmured. 

“We’ll turn 14. So don’t forget it.” Reyna said lightly, and I almost felt embarrassed that I didn’t know my age until she said so. I’m thirteen. That felt right. Octavian was 14 right now though, and it annoyed me that I was a year younger, but Reyna seemed pleased with our new arrangement. 

I sat there listening to Octavian’s cursing and prophecy utterings, rolling this newfound information around in my head. Birthday twins… the wolves didn’t ever have such a thing. They would have growl-braked at such a frivolous thing. I suppose I couldn’t hold onto Lupa’s ways forever. I wondered why the Senate or my private tutors never told me about my real birthday though. Would they even know? Pushing that thought away, I heard something and scrambled to my feet. 

Octavian and Reyna soon followed after. “What is it, Wolf Boy? A chew toy? A whistle?” Octavian sneered, stuffing away his scrolls. He gripped his knives tightly though. 

Footsteps. And they were _heavy_. My eyes trailed up to the ceiling, and I held my finger to my lips and pointed upward. The other two got the hint. It seemed like the sea god was finally ready to see us. Reyna blew out the candle, and shrouded us in darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, thoughts, crit, whatever you feel and hmu either [@bunkernine](https://bunkernine.tumblr.com/) on my tumblr, or like, in the comments
> 
> have a good day 💕💕💕


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